WTO agrees to trillion-dollar trade deal

World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo attends a general council meeting in Geneva on November 26, 2013World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo attends a general council meeting in Geneva on November 26, 2013 AFP

The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Saturday struck a “historic” deal on international commerce that could add up to $1 trillion to the global economy.

The agreement falls far short of the WTO’s lofty but elusive vision of tearing down global trade barriers through its frustrating, 12-year-old Doha Round of talks.

But the accord reached on the Indonesian resort island of Bali nevertheless marks the first global agreement struck by the Geneva-based body since its 1995 founding.

“For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered,” an exhausted but relieved WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo told a closing ceremony.

The pact includes commitments to facilitate trade by simplifying customs procedures.

The Washington-based Peterson Institute for International Economics estimated in a report this year the customs measures could create $1 trillion in economic activity and 21 million jobs if properly implemented.

The report did not detail how those figures were calculated.

WTO officials have conceded however that uncertainty surrounded how effectively the measures would be implemented, especially in underdeveloped countries.

Tough and long talks

Analysts said the hard-fought nature of the talks indicated how difficult it could be for the body to make real progress on the Doha Round, launched in Qatar in 2001.

Failure in Bali “would have dealt a massive blow to the institution’s prestige,” said Simon Evenett, an international trade expert at Switzerland’s St. Gallen University.

The agreement was reached after more than four days of haggling in Bali that stretched past the conference’s scheduled Friday close.